Audio Transcription, Perfected

Checking transcripts after your file has been transcribed and delivered can an arduous task. You have to go through the transcript and match it with the audio file. Theoretically it should as long as the duration of the file, provided the transcript is 100% accurate. However in practice it takes around twice the duration of the file, since there are always some parts which need to re-played multiple times. There is also the issue of tools; the audio player and the Word document are two different programs and switching back and forth between them can be quite cumbersome. But on Scribie, we provide tools to make it easy for you. Here’s a brief guide on how to check your delivered transcripts.

Step 1: Use the Editor

On Scribie, we provide an online tool which presents the audio and the transcript together in a single interface. The audio and the transcript is tightly coupled. You can play any point of the audio and the cursor jumps to the corresponding point in the transcript and vice-versa. Click on the Check & Download button on the Uploaded Files page to load the Editor. We recommend that you use the latest version of Google Chrome browser for the best performance.

Step 2: Analyze

Click on the Analyze button as soon as the Editor loads. The most uncommon terms in the transcript will be highlighted once the transcript is analyzed. These are the parts of the transcript which are likely to have major mistakes. The analysis takes around 3-5 minutes to complete. So in between you can continue with the other steps.

Step 3: Check the Blanks

Press Ctrl+B to start checking the blanks. The blanks are parts of the transcript where we were not sure what was being said. With the Editor, you can quickly cycle through the blanks. The audio is played from 1 second before the blank timestamp and the blank is highlighted. Sometimes we leave our interpretation beside the blank.

Step 4: Random Checks

Instead of checking the complete transcript, we suggest you play 1 minute segments from different parts of the file, spaced evenly at 6 minutes. If you find a major mistake in any of segments, then check the complete paragraph. Click on the audio waveform at the top and the cursor will be placed +/- 10 characters in the transcript. You can also play individual paragraphs by placing the cursor on any paragraph and pressing Ctrl+Alt+N.

Step 5: Scan the Underlines

The Analysis which was started at the second step would have underlined some terms and phrases in blue. Play the paragraphs which contain the underlines and make sure that nothing is wrong in them. All spelling mistakes are also underlined in red, and should also be checked. Right click on the red underlines for spelling suggestions.

The Editor has a lot of functionality which helps you review the transcript and verify that the transcript is indeed accurate to 98% or more. We use the same editor for transcription, reviews, proofreading and QC. So it’s been dogfood-ed extensively. Checking a 1 hour transcript will not take more than 30 minutes if you follow the steps outlined and save a lot of time and effort.

Also remember that we offer free re-reviews. If you find major mistakes, please don’t hesitate of order a re-review. The button is at the bottom in the Editor.

Scribie.com is the only transcription service which offers this tool. Try it out today. We are available on email if you need any help with this. Your feedback and comments are most valuable to us.